What do rap shows, barbershop banter and Sunday services have in common? As Christopher Emdin says, they all hold the secret magic to enthrall and teach at the same time — and it's a skill we often don't teach to educators. A longtime teacher himself, now a science advocate and cofounder of Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. with the GZA of the Wu-Ta...

Christopher Emdin reveals how he aims to bridge the seemingly disparate worlds of the ivory tower and the hood in his talk, "Teaching & Being Ratchetdemic." Highlighting the major inequities in urban education, Dr. Emdin argues in favor of a simple solution: that being “ratchetdemic,” or both ratchet and academic (like having rap battles abo...